By Saidu Idris
Julius Berger Nigeria Plc last weekend signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, the nation’s gas production and management giant, for the reconstruction of the historic Bonny Consulate Building, in Rivers State.
The MOU was signed at the Royal Palace of His Majesty, King Edward Asimini William Dappa Pepple III, Perekule XI, Amayanabo and Natural Ruler of the Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom.
The ceremony which was hosted by the revered Bonny Monarch was attended by a full compliment of the Kingdom’s Council of Chiefs led by the chairman of the council, a retired army colonel and highly respected community leader, Alabo Dagogo Wilcox and the General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development of the NLNG, Mrs Eyono Fatayi-Williams.
Tobias Meletschus, the Executive Director, Corporate Development of Julius Berger represented the Managing Director, Engr. Lars Richter and led the company’s delegation, while the NLNG was led by its Managing Director, Tony Attah.
*Attah
Attah used the occasion to thank Julius Berger for its “steady partnership and for joining hands to bring this dream alive,” adding that there is a Bonny-Dubai Vision planned and intended “to upscale the prominence of Bonny and make it a major investment destination, diversify its economy from reliance on oil and gas to other areas such as tourism, create strong infrastructural base and improve the quality of life of its people.”
He also said “the signing of the MoU marks the consolidation of the NLNG’s true partnership with Julius Berger and Bonny Kingdom.”
Speaking on behalf of Engr. Richter, the engineering construction giant’s MD, Tobias Meletschus thanked the management of NLNG for their serious and worthy commitment to the partnership with Julius Berger for the joint CSR project for which both companies signed the MoU in Bonny.
*Meletschus
Julius Berger, he said, considers it “a great pleasure to extend our cooperation with NLNG – by partnering to reconstruct the Bonny Consulate building as a gift to the Grand Bonny Kingdom.
“It is especially fitting for Julius Berger to participate in this CSR partnership, as 2020 marks our own 50th Anniversary, which we have commemorated through a number of CSR activities across our project locations”.
He further emphasised that Bonny Island has long been a key project location for Julius Berger, the company having first arrived for business on the Island over 20 years earlier, in the mid-1990’s, “as the first major contractor tasked to carry out infrastructural work for the NLNG plant … and have continuously been working on the Island and have reliably and successfully delivered a number of significant projects, no matter the challenge.”
Going further, he added that the company remains confident that its history of success and habitual reliability for project delivery is clearly headed for realisation once more in the ongoing project for the construction of the strategically important Bodo-Bonny Road, the first road link between Bonny Island and the the rest of the world.
“This milestone infrastructure development project will go a long way towards the advancement of the Niger Delta and serve as a catalyst for the continued success of Bonny Island once completed”, he added.
Defining the Bonny Consulate Building as a project “woven into the history of the Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom”, Meletschus said Julius Berger feels honoured to be partners for both the construction of both the Bodo-Bonny Road and the Bonny Consulate Building, adding that both projects would weave into the future of the Grand Bonny Kingdom “for the benefit of the Island and its communities”.
Earlier during the event, Alabo (Col.) Dagogo Wilcox, the Chairman of the Bonny Council of Chiefs in his remarks at the event, traced the history of the Bonny Consulate Building to between 1893 and 1894 when it was established by the British Government as the official court for the adjudication and resolution of disputes which arose from the commercial transactions in the then Oil Rivers Protectorate. A video presentation at the ceremony on the history of the building showed that it was officially dismantled in 1897 when the court of equity it housed was relocated to the new governmental administration headquarters in Port Harcourt.
Dagogo thanked both the NLNG and Julius Berger “for the companies’ major and voluntary corporate social responsibility initiative to reconstruct and restore the historical Bonny Consulate Building at its old site”, adding that “the worthy combined efforts and action by Julius Berger and the NLNG should encourage other corporate concerns in the Kingdom and the country in general to also meaningfully contribute in real developmental terms to their host communities”.